ANNOUNCING: A NEW CHILDREN’S BOOK! CORY & THE 7TH STORY! (And more!)

When it feels like the world is falling apart, we need to take a look at the stories we’re telling ourselves.

The past couple of years have been a huge struggle for many people, as the world has seemed to turn toward its shadow: divisive, aggressive, selfish, fearful, and short-sighted.

It seemed like we were making forward progress – toward expanded understandings of human and civil rights, toward wider inclusion of voices previously silenced, towards creativity and compassion in the public square, but now, it feels like we’ve slammed on the brakes and thrown our culture into reverse.

What do we do? Do we panic? Do we give up? Do we respond to anger with anger, lies with lies, and fear with fear – and become what we’re resisting?

My friend Gareth Higgins and I have been conspiring about a creative, constructive, life-giving way forward. Gareth worked as a peace activist in the struggles in Northern Ireland, and here in the US, he leads retreats, plans transformative learning experiences, and produces The Porch magazine that hosts a slow conversation about beautiful and difficult things.

We believe that …

* amidst the struggle, suffering, and lament, we’re currently living in a moment of great possibility.

* no matter who occupies positions of public authority, each of us has the opportunity to transform the world for the better.

* if we want to change politics, religion, education, entertainment, economics, or science … we need to change the stories that frame our lives.

That’s why we’ve written an exciting new book especially for children, along with a companion book for adults – aimed at bringing hope and practical guidance to the conversation about how to live, now that the six old stories of of fear and violence are breaking down before our eyes.

Each book, in its own way, offers a big view of human history, and invites readers to defect from the six old stories of domination, revolution, isolation, purification, victimization, and accumulation. And most important, each book invites readers to step into a seventh story … a story of reconciliation, of humans with each other, with Earth, and ultimately with love itself.

Here’s what Gareth says:

“The Seventh Story is, quite simply, the most exciting idea I’ve ever encountered, and in living with it for the past couple of years in co-authoring these books, my life has radically changed. I see the pain around me, and the monumental challenges, and even though I can get as depressed as any of us, I no longer despair.

I’ve stumbled onto a way of hearing and telling the story of our lives that generates hope amidst catastrophe, invitation amidst opposition, a larger way of thinking about life that has reawakened a sense of purpose, meaning, and safety, and perhaps even some courage.

I’ve never been more confident of an idea’s power to change the world for the better.“

Because we all say and believe that children are our future (as well as our delightful neighbors in the present), we’ve written one of the books for kids. It’s called Cory and the Seventh Story (beautifully illustrated by award-winning illustrator Heather Lynn Harris) and is aimed at kids aged 6-10 years old. But we keep hearing from grownups that they too find it a really helpful way to awaken their own sense of wonder, imagination, and old dreams that they thought they had lost. It’s a fable about “Us” and “Them”, and we can’t wait for you to see it.

We’ve also written a companion book for adults, called The Seventh Story: Us, Them, and the End of Violence. It’s a short attempt at telling a long story: where violence comes from; how humans have developed six ways of telling the story of our lives, and how a Seventh Story has emerged – a story of reconciliation, in which all our lives are inseparable from each other other, from Earth and its ecosystems, and love itself. It invites nothing less than a total change of being – one step at a time.

You can purchase Cory and the Seventh Story and The Seventh Story now. If you’d like to learn more and order, head over to www.theseventhstory.com.

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ABOUT BRIAN

Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for "a new kind of Christianity" - just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. He is an Auburn Senior Fellow, a contributor to We Stand With Love, and a leader in the Convergence Network, through which he is developing an innovative training/mentoring program for pastors and church planters.